ISLAMABAD: Opposing federal cabinet decision of removal of three members of Indus River System Authority (IRSA), Sindh province has asked Prime Minister to send the matter in the Council of Common Interest (CCI).
Nawab Muhammad Yousaf Talpur a Pakistan Peoples’ Party lawmaker in his capacity as Chairman National Assembly’s standing committee on water resources wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan requesting the premier to send the case of IRSA members to CCI- the highest forum on matters related to federation and provinces.
In his letter dated May 20, Talpur highlighted the role of standing committees of both houses of parliament in monitoring the performance and official business of federal ministries.
The federal cabinet last month approved the process of rolling heads of Punjab and Sindh’s members from the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) for their failure to discharge the assigned duties, especially installation of telemetry system on the Indus Basin Irrigation System.
It removed the federal member Asjad Imtiaz with immediate effect as well. The cabinet also approved the proposed amendment in the IRSA Act that put a bar on extension of members’ tenures after three years.
The decision of federal cabinet under Prime Minister Imran Khan on IRSA administrative issues received a strong reaction from provinces particularly Sindh, an important and major stakeholder. IRSA deals with water management and distribution of water among the provinces.
In his official letter, Talpur termed standing committees ears, eyes, hands and brain of parliament in the parliamentary system of government. He asked the office of premier not to sabotage IRSA by changing its members and creating unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles in installation of telemetry system.
“If there is any complaint, whatsoever, I humbly request you (Prime Minister) to send a reference for change of member to CCI as is required under Article 155 of Constitution of Pakistan”, the parliamentarian maintained.
The recent move by ministry of water resources, allegedly to save the skin of its officials directly involved in mega scam of telemetry system installation is likely to engender another political crisis for Prime Minister Khan as Sindh opposed the cabinet decision of removing IRSA members in the light of inquiry committee formed with the mutual consent of federal secretary of water resources Muhammad Ashraf and Joint Secretary (water) Syed Mehar Ali Shah.
The IRSA alleges that inquiry committee did not cover the all aspects and overlooked the mega scam of selection of company MM Pakistan (Pvt) Limited to save the skin of a senior official serving as Joint Secretary (JS) in ministry of water resources.
After submitting the inquiry report to Prime Minister Secretariat, ministry of water resources initially was reluctant to share the complete report with IRSA authority, however after intervention by Prime Minister Office, it received the document.
Punjab believed that Joint Secretary (JS) ministry of water resources Syed Mehar Ali Shah was keen to allot consultancy part of the contract of telemetry system to semi-government company National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK).
The JS water, whose role is stated as controversial in the matter, was an employee of NESPAK and is serving on deputation in ministry as JS (water) BPS-20 since February 2015.
Mr. Shah is also holding an additional responsibility of commissioner of Indus Water Commission Pakistan on adhoc basis.
In addition, he is also serving as project Director in World Bank (WB) funded water sector capacity building project (W-CAP) and caring for financial matters of special committee on Diamer Basha and Mohmand Dam projects.
Member IRSA Sindh, Syed Mazhar Ali Shah in his official statement through communiqué IRSA/M(S)/ 2684-85 on inquiry report, termed it dishonesty of inquiry committee members and alleged that probe body formed by federal secretary of water resources has not mentioned full facts in the finding of report.
A senior official of ministry of water resources claimed that in the federal ministries that are directly involved in awarding such contracts like; ministry of energy, ministry of communication and ministry of water resources, there is a strong lobby of a semi-government consultancy company National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) to grab the consultancy contracts worth billions of rupees.
Moreover, brushing aside autonomy of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA), federal ministry of water resources also silently awarded the project; ‘Automation of Water Discharge Monitoring’ to Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), which had failed to complete the same project in 2003 causing loss of Rs 345 million to the national exchequer.
Installation of Telemetry System, which needed working cooperation of multiple authorities and ministries, including provinces and the federation has been shelved. All of these people are blaming each other for the state’s collective failure and none is ready to take responsibility.
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